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(No Model.)

No. 550,604. Patented Dec. 3, 1895.

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UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLINTON IV. EASTINOOD, OF PROVIDENCE, RIIODE ISLAND.

RUBBER BOOT-LEG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,604, dated December3, 1895.

Application filed February 20, 1894:- Serial No. 500,921. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLINTON W. EAST- WOOD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of the city and county of Providence, in theState of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Rubber Boots, of which the following is a speci fication.

In the manufacture of rubber boots the proper degree of thickness orrigidity that should be given to the boot-leg has always been a matterof uncertainty. On the one hand, it should not be made too thick, forthis occasions difficulty in putting on or off the boots and foldingdown the leg portion, and, moreover, necessitates unnecessary weight andexpense in manufacture. It is therefore desirable that the leg portionof the boot should be made as thin and flexible as possible. A limit inthis direction, however, in rubber boots as customarily constructed isset by the fact that if made too thin or yielding the folds will sagdown one past the other, occasioning great discomfort and annoyance.

The object of my invention has been to permit the leg portions of rubberboots to be made of material much thinner than has hitherto been thecustom, while at the same time avoiding the sagging down of the outerfolds around the foot of the wearer that would otherwise ensue from suchexcessive thinness.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of the bootwhen folded with the upper portion in section, showing the device inoperation. Fig. 2 is a front view, and Fig. 3 a side view, of theattachment detached, which serves to hold the folds together.

It will first be expedient to consider the nature of the change of shapewhich would be undergone by a boot-leg of excessive thinness notprovided with any device for op posing such change. Supposin g that thebootleg is folded into the shape shown in Fig. 1 and is not providedwith any such locking device, the legwill give way at its weakest parts.These are the folds, upper and lower. The walls or laps themselves ofthe leg will be sufficientl y consistent or unyielding; but the up perfold, for instance, will yield in what may be termed a vortexmotion-that is,the inner lap will remain stationary, the intermediatelap will sink alongside of the same, and the line of fold will movedownwardly on the innor lap, the upper portions of this lap passing theline of fold and becoming part of the intermediate lap. Now the devicefor preventing this movement comprises a fork, the members of whichembrace the inner and intermediate laps so closely that this rollingmotion of the material past the line of fold is prevented, the edges ofthe laps at the fold being brought so close together that the weight ofthe depending material will not change the line of fiexure. Furthermore,I attach the outer member of said fork or hook to the outer lap at anydesired portion thereof, preferably near the top, to permit of the bootbeing lowered as much as possible. Thus the outer lap is supported onthe inner lap.

In the drawings, A represents the locking device, fork, or hook, themembers of which embrace the edges of the inner and intermediate laps soclosely as to permit no change in the line of flexure, and 13 representsthe boot-leg, to the upper portion of which the hook A is attached onthe inside of said leg.

It will be seen that when the boot-leg is folded into three laps andprevented from further folding by the device above described the threelaps constitute substantially a single lap of increased thickness andconsistency.

I am aware that rubberboots havingleg portions of excessively-thinmaterial, provided with means for attachment to the leg orbody of thewearer, have been devised, such construction being shown in the UnitedStates patent granted to John J. Williamson, No. 296,495, dated April 8,1884. The said patent discloses a boot-leg of this character provided atthe top with a strap for strapping it, when fully extended, around theleg of the wearer. This patent, however, discloses no device suitablefor sustaining the leg portion in the position shown in Fig. 1 of mydrawings, nor was the object of this patentee to make the leg portionself sustaining in the trebly folded form above referred to, butmerelyto supportit when fully extended. Williamsons rubber boot has itsleg portion of such exceeding thinness that it would when not sustainedfall into numerous folds.

My improvement is not intended to substitute gossamer material for theordinary stiff inflexible rubber leg, but merely to reduoe the thicknessof the latter to such an extent that a three-fold thickness of thesame,- When held together, would be self-sustaining, and to provideconvenient means for holding the three folds together.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

A rubber boot having a leg portion of thin flexible material but ofsuflicient thickness, that three laps of the san1e,When held together,will be self sustaining, the same being provided With a locking device,secured on the inside of the outer lap, and comprising a fork, themembers of Which closely embrace the edges of the inner and intermediatelaps at the upper fold, whereby change in the line of flexure thereat isprevented, substantially as described.

CLINTON W. EASTWOOD.

Witnesses WILLIAM M. BROWN, DEXTER M. SMALL.

